WASHINGTON -- “The next thing I know, a man brought a ladder to get us out, as well as a pair of shoes. Finally, 35 minutes later, I climb up the ladder through a small hole in the rubble. As I walked two blocks to where Dad had parked, everywhere I turned it seemed like Hell of Earth. Dad had driven through corn fields and over debris, then ran two blocks until he got to me. I’m happy to call him my hero. It still makes me cry.”

— Morgan Osborn, sophomore, catcher/first base

***

That heart-wrenching excerpt is just one of 27 tales from the Washington softball team. Everyone a part of the Panthers’ program, in one way or another, was affected by the EF-4 tornado that moved northeast through Washington on that late Nov. 17 morning. More than 1,100 homes were destroyed, left damaged and uninhabitable or damaged but repairable.

The school’s 2014 orange-covered softball media guide acts as more than just a list of positions, past season’s statistics and team records.

“It was therapy,” Washington assistant coach Clint Reed says.

Reed spearheaded the effort to get stories from the 22 players, four coaches and even official scorekeeper Ronnie Schroen. Reed says the Washington Historical Society decided it wanted people to tell their stories so they could be archived.

Instead of listing each player’s favorite food or movie, Reed decided that half of each person’s biography page would be dedicated to their Nov. 17 story. He limited the word count and sent out self-addressed envelopes.

The response was overwhelming. Players flooded Reed with their stories with one player even handwriting four pages front and back.

“When I was typing those, I had tears in my eyes a number of times,” Reed says. “It’s a piece of each of those girls.”

***

“This was the scariest moment.. We knew the tornado was headed directly toward our house and we had no way of stopping it. We huddled together on the floor, praying for our safety. The loud sounds of the tornado roaring, glass shattering, and debris hitting our house is something I’ll never forget. In 30 seconds it was over and eerily quiet. Coming out of the basement, we were happy to see our walls still standing but the damage inside and outside was more than we could imagine. We stepped outside and what we saw was total devastation. Our entire street was gone.”

— Abby Koerner, senior, pitcher

***

Stephanie Ramsey wasn’t even in Illinois on the morning of Nov. 17. The first-year head coach was in St. Louis visiting a friend from college. She had gone to breakfast, and left her phone to charge. When she returned, Ramsey was ambushed with missed calls, text messages and voicemails.

Page 2 of 2 - Her house had been lost in tornado.

Ramsey remained as positive as ever, though, when talking earlier last week about the media guide and the events of Nov. 17. She credits her team for remaining strong in the months following those life-changing circumstances.

“Each of the girls, I think, really enjoyed writing it because they were able to put into words what happened,” Ramsey says. “A lot of them had a really tough time. It just shows what a tough group of girls they are.”

***

“The emotion that hit me when I started into our subdivision was nothing compared to what I felt when I saw my “house.” People were everywhere. It was hard to even recognize where I was. The house that I’ve called home for 27 years was completely gone in a matter of seconds. My parents had put in so much hard work into remodeling every inch and now it was gone.”

— Stephanie Ramsey

ADAM DUVALL is a Journal Star sports reporter. He can be reached at 686-3207 or aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.